Tigers need to improve shooting in ‘must-win’ against rival Georgia

AUBURN — His team played aggressive defensively, battled for rebounds and held its opponent well below its scoring average, but Auburn coach Tony Barbee recognized his squad’s shooting performance was not sufficient on Saturday against Ole Miss.

“I thought we played well, we defended well enough, we rebounded well enough but you’re not going to beat a team like Ole Miss shooting (37) percent on a lot of open looks,” Barbee said.

After four straight losses, Auburn (8-11, 2-4 SEC) has to shoot better and maintain its defensive toughness which Barbee wants as the identity of his team. The Tigers face their fourth road trip in six games as they face Georgia (8-11, 2-4) at 6 p.m. tonight in Athens.

“Like coach Barbee said, I think it’s a must-win,” Auburn guard Chris Denson said. “Coming off four straight losses and the schedule’s not getting any easier. I think this game has got to be a must-win for us.”

Denson scored a team-high 18 points in Saturday’s loss in bar far his best performance since returning from a foot stress fracture. Following last week’s loss to Vanderbilt, Denson said he was at “80 percent,” and felt much better against Ole Miss.

“I’m almost there; I can’t really explode like I really want to,” Denson said. “I’m starting to get it back, the burst and going past people and on the tip-back I really tried to dunk that but I didn’t get no elevation at all.

“I think it’s believing that I can still do those things. Watching back, coach Barbee said ‘you still got it Chris. You just don’t believe that you can do it.’”

Denson said he got a major confidence boost when he made a double-clutch move after taking off from well outside the lane to score.

With Denson showing he’s back to his old self, it’s possible he could come back to the starting lineup. Auburn has gone with Frankie Sullivan, Josh Wallace, Shaq Johnson, Allen Payne and Rob Chubb for the last four games, all losses, and Barbee knows something has to change.

“We’re still searching and we’re going with the same lineup for four straight games and we’re 0-for so I think there’s a change necessary I’m just trying to figure out what that is,” he said.

Auburn also needs its shooters to improve dramatically.

Barbee called Sullivan’s shooting the past three games “spotty,” which is an understatement. Sullivan has shot 4-for-22 (18 percent) from 3-point range the past three games – far below his 29 percent season average. Noel Johnson is even worse, going 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) in the last three games compared to his 39.7 percent season average.

“Noel Johnson is a prime example; he’s been non-existent, non-factor the last three games,” Barbee said. “Knowing how teams are going to guard Frankie we’re putting him in a lot of two-man actions with Noel being one of our better shooters and he has not stepped to the plate. He’s got to be a guy that makes shots for us from beyond the arc.”

Shutting down Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the No. 2 scorer (17.3 points) in the SEC, will be a challenge but if Saturday’s defensive outing is any indication, Auburn should not have too tough a time limiting the only Bulldog averaging double-figures. Georgia is the lowest scoring team in the SEC with 59.4 points per game and scores even less, 56.7, in conference games.

The Tigers rank 13th in the SEC in scoring defense in conference games, allowing 72.2 points, but limited Ole Miss to 63 points, 18 below their season average.

“We’re in search for a win,” Barbee said. “But it’s not panic time.”